


Wandering Soul ~ First Book

by Arizen117



Series: Wandering Soul ~ Series [1]
Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29236839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arizen117/pseuds/Arizen117
Summary: This story begins with an OC I created named Stellar, who aspires to be a Spartan and ends up being sent on a mission to find the Master Chief after he has gone MIA. This isn't supposed to match up with canon. This is my first fanfic and if you like it, please leave a Kudos... it really helps me as a new fanfic writer.
Series: Wandering Soul ~ Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2146854
Kudos: 2





	Wandering Soul ~ First Book

With the recent glassing of planet Reach, humanity was getting very desperate. Times weren’t great when you were running from a Banshee or a Wraith and having plasma bolts darting by you, barely missing your head. People claimed that there was no salvation, no solution to this issue. Earth was being attacked, as we know it. Spartans, humanity’s guardians were essential to the UNSC and one of them, John 117, known as the Master Chief, won the war. The key to stopping the Covenant and the Flood infection was simply activating the rings, but how it ended was not ideal for the survival of the human race. These risks of extinction were real, all of them.I may have known a lot about the current situation, but I wasn’t fighting against the extinction of mankind. I was a salvager.

My day wouldn’t be training and preparing for missions that saved lives, it would be looking for Forerunner artifacts, fixing them, turning them into something useful. I wasn’t the everyday normal salvager though. I fixed things and gave them to the Office of Naval Intelligence. Usually salvagers were more known to belong in the Insurrectionist class, but I was different. I exchanged these pieces of tech and I would see Doctor Halsey in the halls as I walked to the offices. She would then tell me to meet her in her office after I was done dropping it off, then I would go to her office and talk about tales of the Spartans and what they did to serve humanity.

“You know, being a Spartan is a very hard thing to train for, right?” Doctor Halsey would say. “I’m very aware of that, ma’am.” I replied, looking down at the floor, wishing I had implied that I felt useless. She told me that the Spartans were usually able to keep their emotions under control, so I practiced that. If I wanted to become one, I had to act like one, at least.

Alas, this time I was walking down and saw Doctor Halsey. She told me to meet her in her office. I could tell she was considering it. I dropped off the tech, and walked over to her office door. I knocked, and then opened the door.

Doctor Halsey sat as usual, leaning back in her swivel chair, looking at documents and lists on her desk. I straightened my back, and sat down in the chair in front of her desk. “My reports from the last Spartan came out,” she said, still looking at the papers. She straightened them. “They recovered surprisingly well from the augmentations.” The augmentations, the gene therapy, she had told me all about it. The painful surgeries Spartans would have to overcome in order to increase their performance in the field.

  
“So, me, the Captain, and the Commander have discussed your application to the Spartan program,” she told me. I stayed silent, looking in her direction. “They finally affirmed it.” Halsey said, breaking what somewhat felt like suspense hanging in the air. “You're scheduled for training tomorrow.” Tomorrow was just a good amount of hours away.“” I nodded my head in her direction and stood there, focusing on my posture while I tried to shove down the desire to hug her because I was simply just too happy. “I hope you are brave, young one. Your role as a Spartan is very important here.” she said slowly, looking at me with a questionable expression. It was most likely because I stayed silent after she had announced the good news.  
~~~  
I woke up, and headed straight to the base.

The halls within the base were strangely empty. I looked around in the endless space, my footsteps echoing throughout the walls. I thought it was awfully strange that there was no one around. When I continued to walk around a corner, I saw someone.

They were tall, with green Spartan armor, and they had their helmet on. I stayed quiet and tiptoed closer so they wouldn’t notice me. It was obviously a Spartan, but I didn’t know who they were, or better yet, what they were doing. I stepped closer, scared if I would startle them and they would attack me. I wasn’t exactly sure how Spartans act, though I did hear that they become more aware of their surroundings, and are always ready to jump into action if needed. To be additional, I also heard that after the augmentations, they seemed like a whole different person, their personality changed, everything. I continued to tiptoe closer until I was right outside Halsey’s office door.

They turned to look at me. I bit my lip as I felt the urge to run bubble up inside me. If I had done that, I would’ve looked really suspicious. “What are you here for, ma’am?” the Spartan said in a deep voice. That was a voice I’d heard before, but I couldn’t exactly remember….”I was here for some training with Dr. Halsey, sir,” I tried focusing on something else, trying to avoid looking like a fool. “She told me to be here early.”

“Well, I don’t suppose you aren’t the new Spartan they’ve been talking about recruiting.” the Spartan said, seeming calm, compared to me, who was trying to distract myself to hide my emotions. “Yeah, I’ve been talking to Dr. Halsey about it.” I continued to speak, partially distracted.  
“You seem nervous,” the Spartan noted. “I can help you with it, if you need me to.” “I think Doctor Halsey’s got it. She knows everything about the Spartans.” I replied. “With all due respect, who may you be?” I asked without thinking. I didn’t notice the numbers “117” on his chestplate.

  
“I think you already know.” I hesitated. How did he read my mind? Doctor Halsey said the Spartans were very observant, but I didn’t think it was enough for me to really question how much I gave it away. I stood there, with a blank look on my face. He stayed silent for a while until he broke the silence and told me. It took a long time for my seemingly tiny brain to register who was in front of me. I was soon hit with an imaginary stun gun and just froze, with an even blanker expression on my face. I stared at him for a while, wondering how unlucky I’d get if he were to use his little mind reading powers...

  
“Chief what are you doing out here?” a voice said behind me. I turned around, snapped out of my trance-like state. It was Doctor Halsey, standing there, looking in the Master Chief’s direction.  
“I was waiting for you to get here, ma’am. We had planned a meeting, so I expected you to be in your office, but you weren’t there.” he said in an almost monotone voice. ”Right,” Halsey said, recalling the memory. I stood there, looking at the two. I slowly faded back into space, staring at them for a good long minute as they continued to talk. Damnit. Why was I such a space cadet?  
They called my name and I snapped back to attention. I straightened my spine, as it felt like I’d been standing there for centuries.

  
“Master Chief will be training you, as I happen to have a mission to call forward other Spartans,” Doctor Halsey told me. “Be brave about this, Stellar.” I looked at her at the sound of my name. It was oddly unusual for her to use my name, considering she didn’t use it often. “Acknowledged,” I replied, making my stance a little more professional. “I’ll get ready for the training.” “Please take care of her John,” Doctor Halsey whispered to the Master Chief. “She is one with a dream, and I would like to see her fulfill it.” Doctor Halsey then walked away from us, leaving me and the Master Chief in silence.

~~~~

  
Before I knew it, after my training, there was that day, where I would have to get augmented, tuned to the environment of my armor.

When I finally put myself together and came to the medical bay, I fell into a deep slumber and everything went black. Out of the partial dimness, I could see the doctors gathering around me.

The next day, I woke up and found myself banded to the operation table. I clenched my fists, and fought hard to get out of it, but ended up giving up and laying back down due to the pain in my hands. I was definitely stronger than I was before. Knowing this, I fought some more, my anger being the only thing energizing my moves.

After a few days, and yes, not eating, drinking or even sleeping, strangely, I was released from the table I decided to call “hell”. I was so tired and weak that I couldn’t even walk straight, or even think. They told me to get some rest, and I did. The next few days buzzed by without hearing from the Master Chief. People told me he had been out on a mission, and didn’t come back. They claimed he and three other Spartans had gone MIA, and UNSC Infinity had gone out in search of them.

Doctor Halsey got back after the next few days, and I was extremely eager to see her. I stumbled into her office one morning, and sat down. My posture was extremely poor, and Halsey noticed it.

“You don’t look too good,” she said to me, looking at me. “I had a wonderful, fun time with being torn open and stitched back together with very thin threads,” I said in a very serious and out of line manner. “Well, you should feel better in a few days.” Doctor Halsey said to me.

~~~~~  
  


"Alright, so I just stand still as the machines put the armor on me?” I asked her. “Pretty much, I think you should keep still so the placement is proper.” “Understood. “ I said to Doctor Halsey.

  
~~~~~~

  
I walked onto the field.

They were there. The creatures.

I stood still, trying to remember the training and the identification of these hostiles.

Two Knights, two Watchers, and one Crawler stood there, stiff, not moving, staring at me. I looked at them, afraid of what they might do, catch me by surprise, stand there creepily, and maybe summon more of their comrades. Then they made their move.

I ran faster than I did before I was tuned, and made stronger, and I almost never ran out of breath. I darted throughout the corridors, the tall, thin structures a blur as I ran past them. I came to the edge, and nearly fell over. I was back at the Cryptum. All I had to do was run around it. But they were already next to me. They knocked me down, and I resisted them. I tried to roll on top of them to get off of them and run. They were choking me and I tried to push them off, but the force was too strong. The world started to fade away around me.  
~~~~~~~  
I woke up, and found myself inside a chamber.

I looked around inside the chamber, and it looked like it was used for battling or war games. But the difference was the architecture of the chamber, and the fact it had an AI access port in the middle of it all. There were voices echoing off the walls, and I felt a cold blade of air rush toward me. Despite my armor, and the Titanium-A grading shield plates, I still felt the frozen air. I looked around once more, and caught movement in the corner of my eye.

I looked over in that direction, and I found Blue Team, the Fireteam that the Master Chief was a part of, hiding from something. I thought back to what Doctor Halsey told me about them. But the cold, the freeze. It was making me shiver, and I was unaware of why. I walked toward them, and they turned to look at me.They stared through their faceplates, almost cocking their head in a way that looked like they were puzzled why I was here. “Get down!” one of the Spartans hissed, startling me.

I ducked as I saw a light blade barely missed the top of my helmet, and my shields flickered. I quickly turned to look over where it came from. Nothing there, as usual. But just as I thought it was over, a Promethean Knight materialized next to me. I made an evasive move to the left. It started to fire, the sounds of the Suppressor echoing off of the huge walls of the chamber. I took out my rifle and started firing in the Knight’s direction.

My clip emptied fast, and when it did, I rolled behind the AI port, and snapped a new one in. Before I knew it, the Knight had found me and was on top of me, making an attempt to stab me with a light blade. I held it back, firmly, and kicked at him, even though I knew I wouldn’t win against a stronger species that I knew the augmentations I had done weren’t built for this. I tried to call for help from the other Spartans, but they were fighting the now present Crawlers that had somehow gotten into the room.

I couldn’t keep the position for long, as my strength was waning. I slowly loosened my grip on the Knight’s arm. His blade got closer and closer to my arm. It finally got close enough to start melting one of the armor plates. I kicked him off of me, using my last bit of strength to evade the creature. I then rolled away, and grabbed the light blade that still lay on the floor, after being thrown in an attempt to kill me. I stood up, ran toward him, and impaled him through the torso. He dissolved into ashes, leaving me, Blue Team, and the Crawlers.

A Spartan, known by the name of Linda, walked toward me. “You good?” she asked me, eyeing the melted plate on my arm. “I'm fine. But I could’ve used some help.” I replied, annoyed. “You’re just as stubborn as him,” Linda said. “ I’m assuming that he must’ve trained you that way.” “Who?” I asked her. “Your friend you’ve been looking for.” She replied, then walked away. How did she know I was looking for the Chief?

There were four Spartans on Blue Team. Linda-058, Kelly-087, Frederic-104, and the Master Chief. I noticed that the Master Chief was missing. Strange. If he wasn’t with Blue Team, then where could he possibly be? “We need to gear up and get out of here.” Frederic announced. “We have no transportation in order to get off this planet, or whatever this thing is.” I pointed out. “Yeah, but it doesn’t mean we can’t walk.” he replied, with a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

I could tell Blue Team wasn’t a fan of my presence. They acted like I was the most vulnerable person with them on the mission. “Look, with all due respect sir, I apologize for my impolite gestures.” I said to them. Linda stared at me with a look that could’ve stopped a hunter in its tracks. She seemed... different from the rest…

I geared up after noticing the stare, and then walked over to the rest of the team. “Alright, what’s our plan?” Frederic asked Kelly. “We need to find the Chief, but how is this going to go?” “I’m not exactly sure,” Kelly answered. “But I’m sure Linda might have something in mind.” Linda, from her spot in the corner, moved toward the team. “It would be better if we did have him around.” Linda spoke up. “I just wish he hadn’t lost himself in the plasma blast.”

Lost himself? Why would he do that? Isn’t he trained for this kind of stuff? “I don’t understand what you mean by ‘lost himself’.” I said to them, trying to accept that we had no leadership. “Apparently there was a blast that we survived through and he was gone shortly after the fires were tamed.” Kelly said. I waited for a moment. “So he just disappeared randomly? That doesn’t make sense.” I told her. “There’s got to be some other reason.”

“Alright, who’s in charge?” Kelly asked. “I am.” Linda said. “I have been left to lead before, and--” “No, Linda, I think it would be good if you had stayed behind and covered our backs.” Frederic interrupted. Linda shot him a dirty look. I shifted in my armor. This wasn’t normally what I was used to. Heavy gear on my back, arguing with a Fireteam that I wasn’t even a part of, and to add on, the stress of finding the Chief. “What do you think, er, what’s your name?” Frederic interrupted my thoughts. “Stellar.” I replied with a blank stare at him. “Okay, what’s your idea, Stellar?” he said with a strand of irritation running through his voice. “I think…” I said with hesitation. A few seconds passed. “I think Linda will cover for us, in a way she sees fit, Frederic, sir, you will take the lead on the team, and Kelly you help Frederic infiltrate the hostiles. I will sneak around to a possible control point, and infiltrate that position.” I planned my thoughts out aloud. “Just my plan.” I added on, certainly aware that I was in no position of authority. But what they said next surprised me.

“That sounds good.” Frederic answered, although I could hear some hesitation in his voice. “Okay,” I replied. “I’ll be sniping hostiles, that’s for sure.” Linda reassured me. “Positions--- now!” Frederic shouted. I ran to hide behind a podium. Linda hid as well, only a trace of dust where she used to stand. The rest of the team ran into the hostile group nearby, the sounds of their rapid fire from their rifles echoing off the walls.

I snuck behind the enemy group, silent as the night that was approaching. I got out my sniper, and with two quick shots, the two Knights in the group were dissolving into thin air. I continued to line up shots for the Watchers. It was complicated, it seemed as if they had more advanced shields than the Spartan assault armor. I made multiple attempts to get rid of the Watchers, as they were constantly moving, making it extremely hard to focus in on them and take the shot.

I eventually ran out of clips of ammunition, so I gave up and pulled out my rifle. I darted from my hiding spot and ran toward another podium. I hid behind it, not needing to catch my breath, as the run didn’t fatigue me. I stood quiet, aware of the almost silent buzzing of the strange creatures. I looked at my Heads Up Display and found that my rifle ammo load was not as large as I expected it to be. I would have to use it wisely, or else I would get myself in a puzzle of a situation. My comm crackled. I turned the volume down, anxious of the fact that the hostiles would hear me. “Stellar, do you read?” Frederic’s voice echoed faintly from the comm. I took a short breath, then replied quietly: “I read you, Spartan-104. Status?”

“I’m still leading the team. I saw that there are a few hostiles headed your way.” he answered. “I’ve neutralized them--” I started, but Frederic interrupted. “No, it was about ten seconds ago.”  
Great. More battles to win, and I don’t have very much to win them. “I’ll head over to your position, and I’ll try to avoid them.” “No. It’s too risky. We are running low, and we don’t want our position revealed. Neutralize the hostiles, and meet us back at the ship. We need to hurry up and get out of this place.” he answered on the comm.

“Sir, with all due respect, I am running low as well, and I don’t think I have enough to neutralize them.” I told him. There was a moment of silence on the comm, and then he asked, “Position.” I told him my position, and after a few minutes, he appeared with Kelly. “What are we going to do now?” I asked him, hoping he wasn’t irritated by my response.

“Plan B.” Plan B sounded great but was quite difficult to complete and use. The so -called “Plan B” was a plan that was a make-or-break. The plan was for me to get out of the command spot, [though I thought it was funny because that must’ve been Frederic’s way of trying to politely say “you aren’t the boss of the team’] so I agreed to it and left the position of command that I never even had, although people only went with my plan that I had created because it sounded good enough. As you can see, it failed. Miserably.

Frederic’s plan was to commit an evac, but to “give the hostiles hell all the way back to the ship” as he said, in exact words. I didn’t appreciate the plan for it, but we were running low on ammunition, to be additional, if we were to run out, running like hell is behind you would be the only option at that point. Knights, Watchers, and Crawlers. Yeah, sounds like a hell of a great idea. And that’s where we were.

From my position, [well, as I looked back], I could see a large group of hostiles behind us as we ran. Ten minutes ago, if we were humans, [well not augmented, man, not machine] then we probably would’ve been wiped out, and killed by the enemies following short on the trail behind us. I looked at the other three Spartans as they were running. They ran gracefully, occasionally alternating their pace to Frederic’s, as he ran at the same speed. The black dot on the horizon was where we were headed.

As soon as we got to the Pelican, we immediately closed the cargo door, and Frederic got into the cockpit of the Pelican. “Everyone in?” Frederic asked. “Yeah” I said, looking around at the other Spartans. Linda was giving me a glare, almost like she wanted hell to rain down on me all of the sudden, and I was getting tired of being at odds with the team. “Are we ever going to find him?” I asked Frederic. He looked at me after switching autopilot on and walking back toward the back of the Pelican.

“Our business of finding the Chief is not yours to barge in on.” Frederic answered. He seemed angry, all of the sudden, his position aggressive. Great. Linda and Frederic are mad at me now. I’ll let someone know when they stop acting ridiculous. Kelly was the only one that appeared relaxed, not turning her head in my direction, as she fumbled with her AR. I hope she isn’t one to cross off my list of people that I think I’m friends with. “Linda, I need you to join me in the cockpit. We need to discuss the rendezvous for our next mission after we drop this crooked, wretched person off back at Reach.”

“Scuse me, but I’m not entirely sure what I have done to you that makes you feel like you need to insult me.” Surely, I was a Corporal in the Marines, and he was a Petty Officer, disrespect wouldn’t be tolerated, but for someone like him, he should’ve been able to keep his cool. “I’m tired of these new recruits going around thinking they can do whatever they want. Spartan III I thought were dangerous. Colonel Ackerson must not know what he’s doing.” Frederic shot me a bad look, as his shunning me into silence didn’t sit well with me. As you could tell, I wasn’t up for a fight, and I stayed silent. Linda walked over to the cockpit. I heard whispering, but I was too tired to even try to figure out what they were saying.

I walked over to where Kelly was standing, and watched as she carefully replaced the magazine in her AR. “Do you know why they have been acting strange since they met you?” Kelly slightly whispered, I could tell she was careful about letting Frederic and Linda hear our conversation. “Nope.” I whispered. “Well, the Spartan II community thinks the third project of Spartans was a horrible mistake.” She answered the question lingering in the air. “I heard that Ackerson tried to kill John and his AI, putting him on the frontlines.” I had no idea what the project’s leader had been, but I had assumed it was Halsey, considering she started Spartan II and Mjolnir I. Turns out it was Ackerson who tried to kill the Master Chief.

“Erm- I don’t understand. Spartans never die- right?” “Haha, think about it before you support that. Your armor is less in strength than ours, due to the issues in production, and you’re still a Spartan.” She paused, and I didn’t continue, attempting to let the information sink in. I wasn’t sure why Halsey had lied to me, saying that Spartans never die, never diminish in existence in one of our talks.

“Well, I was sent to find Spartan 117, and I will not be moved away from that decision.” “Fred and Linda are Petty Officers in the Navy.” she said. “They don’t agree with your decision and they’ll get their way.” I walked away from her hoping that I hadn’t pissed her off as well, because that would mean that three-fourths of Blue Team would despise me. I would like to keep it to the half that it is now.

I made my way discreetly to the cockpit, leaning in on the conversation between Frederic and Linda. “The girl needs to go,” Frederic whispered. “Fred, I think she should stay here and help us find John. Kelly can’t be friends with the girl on her own…” Linda whispered back. “So now all of the sudden you’re friends with her? I thought you were better than that. Additionally, John left me second-in-command, so I get to decide what to do with her.” “Well, John wouldn't let her go.” Linda said, and then silence began.

“God, you are so biased!” Frederic hissed at her, and then shuffled toward the cockpit entrance. I backed away, and sat down on the benches in the cargo room. Kelly had sat down and was reloading her pistol. “How many rounds are in an assault rifle, do you think?” I said to her just to get rid of the silence. Frederic and Linda were quiet, so I assumed they were eavesdropping. “About sixty.” Kelly replied, without looking up from the pistol. “Hm. I was just curious. Magnum?” I asked her, pointing to her pistol without another word. “Yeah. How did you know?” “Just thought so. Magnum is the most common pistol you’ll ever find out there so I figured as much.”

All of the sudden, Frederic walked out of the cockpit, and stood in the middle of the cargo room of the Pelican. “So…” He said strangely, without another word as silence reigned the room. “So what?” Kelly broke the silence. “So this Spartan, well, fake Spartan is going back to Reach.” Frederic said to Kelly. “Congratulations, you’re going home.” Frederic shot me a dirty look. “Look who can’t keep the cool mood in the room. Look who has to break out in an outrage towards someone who didn’t try to kill John, who didn’t have a choice what generation they were in.” I said to him, mirroring the look he was giving me. “Aren’t you just a bucket of sunshine?” He continued to stare. Linda walked out of the cockpit and turned her head in my direction.

“You think you can call our Fireteam Leader his actual name, huh?” Linda said to me, as angry as an Elite, after you had punched him in the stomach. “Nah. That wasn’t my intention. Unless you were paying attention to what I was saying, not looking for mistakes, maybe you would know.” I said to her, half expecting her to storm away. Suddenly, Frederic had me by the throat, pinned to the wall. “You know nothing of what we do. You aren’t a part of Blue Team, nor do your actions affect us.” I heard the strand of anger in his voice and knew that behind his visor, he was fuming. “I don’t try to piss you off.” I whispered. He slammed me down on the floor. “Maybe that’s your job. Maybe the spooks sent you here to do just that.” He stormed to the cockpit, without another word.

I looked around, blood rushing in my head. My vision was blurry, but I saw Linda standing in the same position she had been, Kelly looking at Linda and mouthing something I couldn’t decipher, and the dim light from the bench Kelly had set her AR. My vision clarified and I stayed where I was, sitting against the wall. “Kelly.” I called. “Yeah, what’s up?” she asked. “What’s wrong with Frederic?” I asked her, teeming on the edge of terror after what just happened. Fredrick seemed… a little too angry for a Spartan who could keep their emotions to themselves. “Fred hasn’t had a good day.” “Alright.” I laid down on the bench in the cargo room, hoping to get some rest.

“Contact!” someone shouted and woke me up. I bolted upright and slid off the bench. “Who is it?” Linda called back. She was standing on the opposite side of the room, next to Kelly, who was surprisingly still fumbling with her weapons. “It- it looks like it’s a separate signal from the rest.” Fred answered. “This is Sierra 1-” A voice crackled over the comn. I bolted toward the cockpit. “Chief! That’s him!” I shouted, attempting to make a connection back to him.

“Hey! Get off the comns!” Frederic shouted at me in an angry voice. A voice on the comn. Static. We stopped and listened. “This is Sierra 117. Does anyone read me? I’m-” Static. Great. “ We have to go find more ammunition.” Fredrick said. “What if he’s in danger?” I asked. “You have no part in this plan. You are just a stowaway we just happened to pick up.” Frederic said. “You have no idea what I’m capable of.” I hissed and walked out of the cockpit area. “You’re being rude, Fred. You know that she’s on the same mission we are.” Kelly said behind me. I stopped. Turned around. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t belong here. So we will compromise.” I paused, then continued- “I’ll get off this ship and maybe I’ll find my own way back.” All of them stood there, silent. I squinted at Frederic, as I was suspicious of him, very suspicious. He had gone from bad to worse in the status of his attitude toward me.

I gathered my things and packed very loosely. An AR, an HE pistol, and two frag grenades. The cargo room was silent except for the slight hum of the Pelican’s engines and whispers from Frederic, Linda, and Kelly in the cockpit. They were behind a door. Behind a door now, and I wouldn’t have to deal with them. Save it for later. I didn’t feel like battling three Spartans, as well with the stress of another one who was MIA “Why leave so early?” A voice behind me. I didn’t speak.

“You know, Fred is only treating you like hell because he is paranoid of you, right?” I stayed silent for a while after. After I realized that she was still there, I spoke. “There’s more than the first approach when you meet someone.” I said, She shifted on her feet behind me. “Well, what are you thinking” “I’m saying that the first approach that someone experiences isn’t always a clear memory. Unless you are to meet them daily, and give them new impressions.” “Right, but Fred still remembers when he met you.”

“I wish he would forget that I’m a Spartan III, and just get on with his life.” I said to her. “Hey, he only dislikes you because the lead of the project you’re in stole our project lead’s file for his own.” Kelly explained to me. “Wait, so Halsey is the lead of Spartan II? And Ackerson- this dude that’s my project’s lead stole her files to benefit my project?” I said, trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. “Yes, and he nearly killed John, because he put him on the frontlines of one of the missions we had battling the Covenant.” Kelly said. “Cortana was the only one that saved him from possible death.” “Well, I thought that Chief was strong and-” “He’s human. We are all human. Just augmented and stronger than a normal human.” Kelly interrupted me.

I took it with contentment, mainly because I was already running out of reasons why he shouldn't be perfectly capable of fighting off them, but then I had played the game when I was little, fighting the Covenant off, through the view of the Master Chief’s visor. Perception was different here. Even in the game, he had limited shielding, and I could only assume that it was the same. It was as if someone had put on his helmet, got the layout, and then decided to picturize the events that he described. Clever, very clever. If only I could figure out how to do that. Maybe reality would come back to me. I would know what situation Blue Team was in. But no. I had a different style of armor, shut off from understanding what worried them. The ignorance killed me. My armor wasn’t MJOLNIR, as it was some other kind of Spartan armor they claimed was easy to “reproduce in factories”. Apparently it wasn’t as protective as the elements of the Spartan II’s armor, and it lacked good shielding.

A few hours later, I decided to leave the ship. It wasn’t a happy ending, as I didn’t expect it to be, after the exchanging of words me and Frederic had after Kelly had talked to me. He told me to never come back and not to look for John, as secretly I would, because I was concerned and that’s what I was sent out there for. I wouldn’t “take the long walk back” all the way to base, mainly because I had no means of transportation, and I was on a different planet. I would simply follow the tracker I had left onboard the Pelican, and follow them. I wasn’t planning to commit suicide, but I had to make a sacrifice towards trying to find the Chief. I would never go home empty-handed, and I knew that if I did, then I wouldn’t have a good take toward Halsey.

I had spent days looking for the Pelican, following it with long walks that were without food or even sleep. I was lucky that I was a Spartan, mainly because of the fact that I would’ve died, considering I was without human resources. But that didn’t mean I didn’t need something like water or something else to keep me going. It felt like hell raining down itself, running throughout the empty seas of land, vast and dry. I finally found an old Pelican that I took up repairs on. As soon as I was finished with the repairs, I then took a look at my tracker. They were on the other side of the planet. The tracker I had was advanced, a military tracker at that. One that could detect something from light years away.

I powered up the engine with some fuel I found in the cargo room of the Pelican, and hopped into the pilot seat. I spent days flying across the barren lands. One of these days, I stopped and checked my tracker, after putting the plane on autopilot. I walked into the cargo room, benches lining the walls, and felt nostalgic over the memory of my old bird that I had made many trips with to the base of Reach. I caught whiff of the news that it had been glassed. My home, my bird, the base I had trained with, all destroyed and incinerated by the Covenant over some stupid Halo ring. But then, I had realized, tragically, how many people died in the accident. What if the Chief and Halsey were one of the fatalities that had taken place on the planet?

No. That couldn't be. I felt dizzy for a second. The Master Chief always avoided death- it was his legendary trait. His mark of fame. Luck. And Doctor Halsey- there’s no way she could’ve died. No way. The UNSC would try to get her out of there as fast as they could. She would be the first one on the lifeboats. But so many people died in the accident...

After a few days I had tracked them down, Frederic not too happy about me showing up, but didn’t say anything when Kelly ran across the LZ and gave me a handshake. I was okay with the fact that she seemed to be the only one who even had the littlest of respect for me. I was fine with that. In fact, I would’ve traded my situation for that instead. But I have both. So that was a bad end. But in the end I found them. “How did you get back?” Kelly had asked me that evening. “Well- I circled the planet looking for you guys-”

“Thank god you're back! I was worried about…” she trailed off as a shadow overcame the area. I looked up. A familiar metallic purple flashed in the sky that was currently black at the time, considering the shadow brought upon us. “Get down!” I screamed as plasma bolts narrowly missed the Spartans’ heads. We were in a forest, so we jumped out of the clearing, and we bolted into the shadows. “They’re already suspecting someone being here- I mean, they see the Pelican… right?” Kelly whispered to me. Me and Blue Team were huddled together in a tree we had scaled during our wild attempt at not being discovered by the ship. The hiss of the engine on the Covenant ship had slowly become quieter, and the giggles of Grunts and growls of Elites filled the clearing. “They’re here somewhere... “ one Elite growled, opening and closing his mandibles as if he were sniffing something. The suspense made us on edge, and I could tell the Spartans were not appreciative over fate that the Covenant would find us. After a few minutes, the clearing was quiet. Shuffling behind us. “Aaarrrggghhh” the Elite growled. They had found us.

Our escape left our enemies in dust, but plasma bolts were faster. Linda and Frederic ran in a separate pair next to me and Kelly. I continued running, Kelly next to me the whole time, sometimes getting a foot ahead of me, but I pushed to stay on her three o’clock. The whole time, I was wondering how far we had gotten. “Alright- stop.” Frederic said as we all slid to a stop, scraping the pavement with our armored feet. I looked back. Gashes had been cut into the concrete, steaming with the friction put on them. “The matter? Haven’t seen yourself run before being a Spartan?” Linda said, as if she were trying to insult me. “No. Linda, I just became one. I’ve only ran two other times. And I don’t back out of battle that easily.” I replied.

“Why did you follow us? Why?” Linda challenged me, although I was silent for a moment, trying to answer the question. It was simple. I had tried to track them down, and had successfully found them, but what should I do now? They had run away from the Pelican, giving me no other option but to turn up empty-handed if I were to look for them again. Just a Pelican. And another one outside of this random forest. An old one, at that. I took a moment, considering my way to answer them. 

“I can’t risk losing you again, that’s why. If I do, then you won’t be with me when I find the Chief.” I said to Linda. “When you find the Chief?” Frederic broke in, chuckling. “Yes.” I shot back, hoping that he would stand down. This was a discussion between me and Linda. If I had two against me, then what would I do? Would I just stand there, frozen as they came at me with all the more reason I should give up my mission? Or would I recoil, but not understand what they meant when they said I was “dead weight” to the mission?

The true answer is that I didn't really know. If I had won this battle, finished this fight, things would be different, and yet, now I have people who are on my side actually fighting me? They weren’t supposed to be part of the mission. They were just a coincidence. An add-on. I could’ve done this by myself, what did I have to come back to them for? I stood there, as the Covenant ship took off in the distance. They were done looking for us. But even then, I still had a battle to win. And I wasn’t backing down. “We need to head back toward the LZ. If we don’t, we’re at a better chance of being discovered.” I said to them, looking down at the gouges in the concrete, which were no longer steaming. “No. We don’t take orders from you.” Frederic said, stepping in front of Linda as if to protect her from me. I didn’t know why I was viewed as a threat. “Fine. I’m leaving and not coming back. I will find the Chief, and I will complete my mission. I refuse to accept the amount of disrespect taken towards me even though I’m in the lower ranks.” Without another word, I took off running, crushing rocks under my feet, and leaving them behind.

I got back to my Pelican, the one just outside of the forest, and started checks on all of the systems within the bird for takeoff. “Electronics- good, Holos- good, Weapons systems- good…” I whispered to myself, but got cut off. A rustle behind me. “Looks like you are putting on a strong comeback.” A voice said behind me. Kelly’s, I heard it too many times before. I turned around, with a startled expression on my face. “Did I surprise you?” Kelly asked me, still standing in the cargo doorway. “Nope. Weren’t quiet at all. I heard you, and my enhanced hearing is beyond someone sneaking up behind me.” I said to her, with a tinge of sarcasm in my voice. I had to keep it up, but I couldn't be rude. “I’m not surprised… You got augmented-what? Just a few days ago?” Kelly said.

I stopped and thought how long ago this had happened. A week ago. I had been with them for a week, now, and I was already running away from them trying to prove a point. “A week ago.” I said to her, then turned back to my TACPAD. “Really, you have been with us that long?” Kelly said to me. “I would’ve thought that Reach could’ve been glassed in a few minutes… I was there.” Kelly said. “We escaped- they took John- and we were left to fend for ourselves.” The reminder of Reach was so painful it was like a punch in the face. I held back my feelings. I knew better. Spartans don’t cry, and they’re tough. Or are they? “You know, I knew that in the end we would all be okay. It seemed- so real, like the storyline they wrote about us.” Kelly said. The game. She knew what Halo was. I had lived my entire life when I was little, when my parents played Halo with me, and I thought I was destined to meet the legend- the main character, the Master Chief. I had adorable dreams as a kid. And my parents tried to cheer me up by telling me that I was destined to meet with him and join him on the Great Journey…

But that wasn’t right. My parents were sick to think that he supported the stupid “Great Journey.” They had probably thought that he was the one bringing peace, and the Great Journey was the plan. But he was the one who defaced it. Rejected it. Stopped it, luckily, but there was still a job to get done in the real world. There was only one Halo, and it was like the humans predicted the future; all the events happened within the story. The fall of the planet Reach was predicted, the meetup and experience with the Covenant was also another one predicted, and so was the Chief getting on the Pillar of Autumn, put into desperate measures for trying to escape the now glassed planet Reach. And then they predicted him running from a glassing ray, jumping into a pool of water and getting trapped by the Gravemind, the infamous creature, in which was almost like a fog to the Master Chief’s AI. She couldn’t put depth and perception into it, as it stretched out farther than the ship’s waning camera system could visualize. But that’s not what surprised me.

It was the fact that they had got it all right- the names, the one legend of a hero that rose up to the cause, and the history of it all. It felt like magic, something that couldn’t be understood. Thirty years, and all of it had been predicted by a video game. The Master Chief is alive. The glassing of Reach didn’t kill him. I would’ve laughed at it if it hadn’t included the deaths of many people, considering the circumstances.


End file.
